


A Message in the Pages

by EvenMadderHatter



Category: K-pop, SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Library, Books, Confused Jeon Wonwoo, Cute Ending, Cute Kim Mingyu, Fluffyfest, How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, I Ship It, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Jealous Jeon Wonwoo, Jealous Kim Mingyu, Jeon Wonwoo is Whipped, Jeon Wonwoo-centric, Kim Mingyu is Whipped, Librarian Jeon Wonwoo, Love Letters, M/M, Sort Of, The Author Regrets Nothing, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 12:11:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17704040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvenMadderHatter/pseuds/EvenMadderHatter
Summary: Every day, it was the same story.He would walk into the library, pick up a stack of completely random books, sit down, and then flip through them all in a matter of minutes.To put it simply,it infuriated Wonwoo.AKAThe Meanie high school AU fic that I've been meaning to post forever and finally got the time to.





	A Message in the Pages

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired loosely by a story I read called Quiet, Please. It's a Hyungwon/Minhyuk (Monsta X) fanfic and it was so cute that I wanted to write a Meanie fanfic that was sort of based around it. It ended up being its own thing. 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!! 
> 
> (❍ᴥ❍ʋ)

There he was again. Mingyu Kim. Wonwoo eyed the boy sitting across the room from where he was behind the librarian's desk. He had just sat down in a chair- one of Wonwoo's favourites- and had a stack of books in his arms. The chair creaked loudly and the books thudded against the table where he dropped them. A nearby student looked up from her papers to glare at him, but he barely noticed. With a sheepish smile and a muted apology directed at those who he had disturbed, he stacked the books carefully and picked one out to read. From where he was in the room, Wonwoo could just manage to decipher the words on spines of the books. 

A Beginner's Guide to Arithmetics. 20 Modern Fairytales. How to Raise a Bonsai. 18th Century Innovations. The list went on and on. 

Wonwoo himself had watched Mingyu pick out all of the books. It had been three days since Wonwoo had become the librarian's intern of sorts, and Mingyu had been coming to the library every single afternoon. He had the same infuriating method that he repeated every single day. He would walk up to a random bookshelf, pick a random book, flip through it in a matter of seconds, and then tuck it under his arm to bring back to his table. It didn't seem to matter if the book was good or not, or even what it was about- without fail, Mingyu always took it. 

After taking a number of books, he'd return back to the chair he was sitting on- now equipped with an army of miscellaneous books- and repeat the whole process. Pick a book. Flip through it. Put it down. Repeat. 

To put it simply, it infuriated Wonwoo. 

Mingyu was a jock. A perfect epitome of the high school stereotype. He was on the basketball team and from what Wonwoo knew, he was pretty good at the sport. Wonwoo would see him around the school's halls with his other jock friends, joking around, throwing their basketballs- doing whatever jocks did. Wonwoo didn't really know. What he did know, however, was that Mingyu Kim should have no reason to be in the library. None that Wonwoo could think of, anyway. From what he had heard, Mingyu was adequate- if not exemplary- at all the classes he took, so there was very little chance that he was at the library to study. But Wonwoo could've drawn that conclusion from the types of books that the other always read. 

He tore his gaze away from Mingyu and looked up at the clock ticking away in the corner. 4:59. That meant… The clock clicked as it's minute hand moved once more, and set off the hour hand. 5:00. 

Exactly at that moment, Mingyu looked up from a thick copy of The Wonders of the Beluga Whale and checked the time. After, he quickly flipped through the rest of the tome in a hurry.

He stood up, books clutched carefully in his hands, ready to bring them back to their respective shelves. Then, unexpectedly, Mingyu looked up straight at him and Wonwoo met his eyes for a brief moment before snapping his neck down to look at his own book, an ancient copy of The Iliad. He didn't know why he was blushing, exactly, but he hoped Mingyu didn't see. 

Wonwoo swore he heard Mingyu chuckle as he exited the library. 

 

… 

 

By the time a week had passed, Wonwoo had grown used to seeing Mingyu in the library. The jock's annoying habits had also started to grow on him. No matter how many times he was shushed or glared at by others in the library, he always came back. Wonwoo found that… personable. 

This time, Mingyu had taken a dystopian-romance novel that Wonwoo knew was an agonizingly dull read, a dog-eared copy of Shakespeare's famous work, Romeo and Juliet, a book on the human brain, and many more random titles. 

Realizing that he had been staring, Wonwoo hurried to look down to read his own book- a rather tiresome read that he only picked because it was on the required reads list for his English class. After a couple minutes more of trying to get through at least one chapter of his book, Wonwoo gave up. Mingyu was infinitely more interesting than the dusty novel ever could be- not that Wonwoo would ever admit that out loud. 

Speaking of him, Mingyu had opened another book, this time one about chemical engineering. Wonwoo almost laughed out loud at how funny Mingyu looked. The poor boy looked so confused and lost- he seemed to have a permanent crease between his eyebrows. It was no secret that he was completely baffled by the contents of the textbook, yet for some reason, he kept on reading. Wonwoo himself was confused at this. Why Mingyu hadn't just given up and moved on, he didn't know. Why Wonwoo himself was still looking at Mingyu was a mystery in itself. "Man," Mingyu sighed, closing the book noisily. "This stuff is crazy."

Wonwoo rolled his eyes but couldn't keep the smile off his face as he saw Mingyu get glared at yet again by another student working intently on their laptop. 

Looking back down at his English book, he tucked it away in his bag after checking it out. He had spent too long reading the same book and didn't want Mingyu to think he was slow at reading. Standing up from behind his own desk, he went in search of another book. 

Wonwoo was an avid reader and absolutely loved books. Whatever genre, author, or topic it didn't really matter. He'd read anything. That was one of the main reasons why he was interning for the librarian. Books were his life. 

Searching the shelves, he smiled when he saw the mismatching gaps in the shelves. One in the dystopian section, one in the Shakespeare section, yet another in the biology and anatomy section, and one in the chemistry textbook section. Reaching for the history branch of the library, Wonwoo picked up one of the thickest books he could find. He didn't want Mingyu to think he was dumb, after all. 

Wait, what am I thinking? Wonwoo sat down heavily at his seat. Why should he care whether or not Mingyu Kim thought he was smart? Wonwoo bet that Mingyu didn't even know his name. Wonwoo was a nobody at school. He only had a few close friends- not at all like the large group that always seemed to follow Mingyu. 

He was brought out of his thoughts when Mingyu stood up to return the books he had gathered once more. Wonwoo glanced at the clock in a hurry. 5:00. How had time passed so quickly? Had he been that distracted by the other boy? 

For a second, Wonwoo thought he saw Mingyu take a hesitant step towards his desk as if he was going to engage in conversation with him and maybe check out a book or two, but just as soon as it happened, Wonwoo was staring at Mingyu's back disappearing behind some bookshelves. 

Wonwoo didn't look up from his book when Mingyu passed to head out the door, even though he wanted to catch even a small glimpse of the other as he went. 

He looked up quickly, unable to hold back the urge, only to see an empty entrance. With a sigh and no particular desire to keep on reading, Wonwoo closed his book and folded his arms into a cushion as he laid his head on it. There was always tomorrow. 

 

… 

Wonwoo's best friend, Soonyoung, had come to visit him in the library and was sitting with him, looking over his shoulder at the brown-haired figure flipping through a book swiftly. 

"So Wonwoo," Soonyoung whispered, side-eyeing his friend with a sly smile. 

"Hmm?" Wonwoo intoned, caught up in the descriptive scene unfolding in the copy of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson's original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in front of him. 

"What's Mingu Kim doing in the library?"

Wonwoo looked up from his book to meet his friend's eyes with confused eyes. "What do you mean?"

Soonyoung sighed. "I mean why is 'pretty-boy-Kim" hanging out in an old, musty library?" 

"Hey!" Wonwoo slapped Soonyoung's arm. "It is not musty. This library is perfect."

"Alright, alright, your library is great- now answer my question!"

"It's not my library," Wonwoo mumbled, but at Soonyoung's responding look, he relented. "I don't know why he's here- why would I?" 

Soonyoung stared at him with sceptic eyes but seemed to let it go for the time being. "I was talking to Hansol earlier- you know, that one kid in my music composition class- anyway, he's friends with Mingyu and he mentioned that Mingyu hasn't been hanging around with him and his friends a lot lately. He's been too busy 'trying to impress his latest crush'." Soonyoung used his fingers to add quotation marks to the last part. "I guess he's not, huh? Being that he's spending all his time sitting around here reading." 

Wonwoo just nodded in response, staring at the boy across the room. Mingyu seemed vexed today. He was restless and seemed incredibly bored by all of the books he was reading. He had just resorted to tracing the spines and edges of the covers with an expression on his face that Wonwoo couldn't quite decipher. 

Maybe he was just having a bad day. It happened sometimes, right? Although Wonwoo had never seen Mingyu so irate before. The boy hadn't spoken once and Wonwoo hadn't seen him look around the room at all- save for once or twice at the beginning when Soonyoung had walked over to Wonwoo and began talking. 

At 4:27 exactly, Mingyu walked out the doors of the library. 

 

… 

 

The next time Wonwoo saw Mingyu was a couple days later and the boy was not alone. 

Wonwoo would be lying if he said he didn't feel a flood of relief at the sight of the boy. Mingyu had been coming to the library daily for so long, so when he just stopped coming, Wonwoo had begun to worry. 

Now not only was Mingyu back, but it also seemed that he'd brought a friend. 

Wonwoo vaguely recognized the blonde haired boy with cherry red lips and impressive stature walking next to Mingyu. He wasn't as tall as Mingyu himself, but he made up for the lack of height in his build. 

Wonwoo tried to remember the handsome boy's name- it started with an S, he was sure of that much- but other than that little fact, he couldn't recall anything about the boy. 

S-boy ruffled Mingyu's brown hair and the other smiled at the action. Mingyu led the other to a table, speaking rather loudly in an affably excited tone that had Wonwoo smiling a little. His smile disappeared when the two leaned in closer, reading a book together as they chatted. They ignored all the glares they were getting, but S-boy had the decency to smile apologetically at anyone they disturbed. To Wonwoo's shock, everyone on the receiving end of S-boy's smiles immediately backed down and stopped their admonishing, instead choosing to shyly return the smile or bashfully look away. 

Wonwoo frowned and looked back down at his philosophy book. He didn't think S-boy was that handsome. 

He got through half of a page before his mind began to wonder, thinking about the possible futures. S-boy didn't look like he came to the library very often. Wonwoo had never seen him in it and he'd been interning there for a while now. That might mean that he'd become bored with the library and leave soon. Wonwoo thought hopefully, before mentally reprimanding himself for thinking like that. If anything, if S-boy got bored he might take Mingyu with him, and they'd go hang out and have fun together. Mingyu might never come back to the library. 

Wonwoo pulled himself out of his thoughts when he realised that he was scowling at the pages of his book. Looking up, he saw Mingyu and S-boy talking softly, still sitting close together. 

With a huff, he tried to focus on his book again for what must have been the hundredth time. It didn't work. With a heavy sigh, Wonwoo wished that Soonyoung was here to drag him off somewhere. Being anywhere else would be more enjoyable than being in this situation. 

At that moment, Mingyu and S-boy stood up from their table. S-boy told Mingyu something in a hushed voice and pointed towards Wonwoo. Wonwoo froze. 

S-boy started to walk towards him and Wonwoo began internally freaking out. Had he been that obvious? Was S-boy coming to beat him up? Oh god, what had he done? Wonwoo was going to die toda-

"Hi," A low but cheerful voice sounded out. "Can I check this out?" Wonwoo looked up at S-boy, who was brandishing a heavy looking textbook. 

Wonwoo nodded as he swallowed thickly, trying to keep himself from saying something dumb. He carefully took the book, scanning the library barcode sticker on the side of the spine to check it out. All he would need to do was stay silent and get through this. That way, there was no chance to embarrass himself in front of anyone. 

"Wonwoo, right?" 

Well, there went that plan. Wonwoo met S-boy's eyes once more with a pressed smile. "Um, yeah, that's me. Wonwoo is me, that is correct." Wow okay. That wasn't awkward at all. 

Despite Wonwoo's less than intelligent answer, S-boy laughed and extended a hand to him. "Seungcheol Choi is me." Wonwoo flushed bright red at the spot-on impersonation of him. Well, at least he knew S-boy's name now. With the name came all of the information that Wonwoo had forgotten. Seungcheol Choi- the captain of the school's basketball team, an incredibly nice guy, and literally everyone's crush. Except Wonwoo's. He preferred brunettes. 

As Wonwoo handed the textbook back to Seungcheol, the other smiled once more, making a quick glance towards Mingyu- who was waiting nearby- before quickly leaning forward to say, "I've heard a lot about you, Wonwoo. Let the boy down easy, okay? After all, he is terribly in lo-Mmph!" Seungcheol's flippant smirk was suddenly covered by a hand so fast Wonwoo didn't even see it coming. Seungcheol's muffled words turned quickly into loud laughter that got him a whole chorus of shushes from the occupants of the library. 

"Sorry, sorry," He whisper-shouted at everyone before turning to the owner of the hand that just silenced him. 

"Seungcheol," Mingyu said through gritted teeth, nervously glancing at Wonwoo before looking back at Seungcheol to glare at him- even though Wonwoo can tell that it's not as much a mad glare as it is an embarrassed one, which just confuses him even more. "Let's go." Mingyu dragged an apologetic Seungcheol away while he waved a hasty goodbye to him, leaving Wonwoo very, very nonplussed. 

 

… 

 

The next couple of days passed and there was no sight of Mingyu. 

Wonwoo thought he might be hanging out with Seungcheol. 

For once in his life, none of the books in the library seemed very interesting at all. 

 

… 

 

When Wonwoo walked into the library on a Thursday morning, he didn't expect to see a familiar brunette sitting at a table, furiously writing into a small notebook.

Mingyu had never come earlier than Wonwoo before, which made Wonwoo wonder what was special about this day that made him come early. 

A pile of papers stood next to him and judging by the size of it, Mingyu had been there for a while. No one else was in the library- it was too early. How Mingyu even managed to get into it was a mystery. Perhaps he had asked the librarian, Mr. Lee, to open it up for him. Wonwoo wouldn't be surprised if that was true- Mingyu was hard to say no to, he reckoned. 

Seungcheol was nowhere in sight and Wonwoo was strangely relieved by that. He didn't think he could take many more interactions with that one. 

Passing Mingyu, Wonwoo tried to look over his shoulder at what the boy was writing, but he couldn't get a good glimpse. He only saw partial letters and hurried, but still neat handwriting. Mingyu showed no signs of stopping, so Wonwoo sat down at his desk, pulling out the English book he had borrowed to read at home. It was long overdue but Mr. Lee had cut him some slack. Perks of being the intern, Wonwoo supposed. 

As the hours went by, Mingyu didn't make any loud noises. The occasional tired sigh or the rustling of paper were the only sounds in the library. As more students came and went, Wonwoo noted that Mingyu kept on working and working, showing no signs of stopping.

Wonwoo in the meantime had gotten through a detailed textbook on the Joseon Dynasty in the 14th and 15th century, a lacklustre re-imagined version of Shakespeare's Hamlet, and a rather worn copy of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In all that time, Mingyu had not moved from his seat. 

When lunch rolled around and his free periods ended, Wonwoo had finished about half of a novel that contained a collection of Greek and Roman war stories. It was a lot of bloodshed and murder for a morning but all in all, Wonwoo decided that it wasn't the worst book he'd read before lunch. Feeling done for the morning, Wonwoo began to pack up his stuff. He quickly grabbed the overdue English book and slipped it carefully back into it's rightful place on the shelf. 

Wonwoo slung his bag over his shoulder and left the library, but not before he took a glance back at Mingyu to see the stack of notebook paper had doubled, and he was still writing. With a final, puzzled smile, he went to class, mind full of the brown haired boy and what he could possibly be writing. 

 

… 

 

It was a Friday afternoon, and Mingyu wasn't there. 

Wonwoo tried to think of reasons why that could be but came up blank. Maybe he'd injured his hand, writing so much. Wonwoo chuckled, imagining Mingyu explaining to Seungcheol why he couldn't play on the team. 

Eventually, he dismissed the thought. It wasn't the first time that Mingyu had skipped a day at the library. Maybe he was with friends or had after-school activities, or maybe he was just late. Wonwoo guessed that he would probably come later. Until then, he might as well organize some of the books into their proper shelves. Not many people cared enough to put the books back right, so Wonwoo was usually stuck with the job. Not that he didn't like it or anything- quite the opposite really. It kept him busy and he could even discover some books that he might want to read in the future. Although that seemed a bit unlikely. Wonwoo sometimes felt like he read all of the books in the library, and there were no new, fun adventures to go on. Sometimes he wondered if that was a sign that he needed to get out more and do other things. 

There was actually no real reason why Wonwoo continued to intern for Mr. Lee. He didn't need to- it didn't affect his school grades in the slightest, and he doubted that it would seem very appealing to many colleges either. Wonwoo kept telling himself that he stayed because he loved the books in the library and the library itself was one of his favourite places to be, but he knew that a certain brunette had a lot to do with why he stayed. 

Wonwoo wanted to stop feeling that way, he really did. It was never going to happen- he'd never even talked to Mingyu for goodness sake! But a little part of him was still stupid enough to hope. And that was enough of a reason for him. 

But still… Why wasn't Mingyu here? Could he possibly be with Seungcheol? Maybe they were together, laughing and talking over lunch. Wonwoo frowned and tried to get rid of the thought. Why was he jealous? Wonwoo didn't think he was a jealous type but maybe he was wrong. 

Groaning in exasperation, he turned around to lean his back against the bookshelf, sliding down it slowly. He took a moment to close his eyes and breathe before realizing that someone could walk through the aisle any minute and find him like that. Opening his eyes, he looked to his left and saw the spine of a book poking out of the bookshelf. Breathing out sharply in a tired huff, he moved to push it further back into the shelf but froze when he saw the spine. 

The Iliad stared back at him.

Wonwoo pulled it out carefully and flipped through it, almost mimicking the way Mingyu "read" his random books. 

Suddenly, a piece of paper fluttered out of it and fell to the floor. Wonwoo's eyebrows lifted slightly as the surprised boy crouched down to pick it up. 

'Hi. 

Listen, it's been weeks of hanging out in this library waiting for you to come out from behind your books and ask me out on a date. So I guess I'll do it. Wonwoo Jeon will go out with me?'

Scribbled on the back in hasty letters was a hurried, 

'P.S. This is Mingyu'

Wonwoo blushed a bright crimson when he figured out what he had just read. Mingyu had just- Wonwoo practically leapt up to run outside and find the boy when he realized something. 

How did Mingyu know that Wonwoo would open up The Iliad? Wonwoo had read so many books over the past couple of weeks. He might've never found the message if he hadn't looked at this book. 

He paused, suddenly remembering the day before when Mingyu had been writing in that notebook. 

I might have never found it unless… 

Standing up, Wonwoo travelled to the English section of the library. Yet again, a book was sticking out of the shelves ever so slightly. Wonwoo pulled it out and just as he'd suspected, it was the book that he had returned the day before. 

Opening it carefully, he was met with a neatly folded note. 

'Hi.

Listen, it's been weeks of hanging out in this library waiting for you to come out from behind your books-'

Wonwoo raced to the opposite side of the library to the philosophy section, pulling out the book he had been reading recently. 

'Hi.

Listen, it's been weeks of hanging out in this library-'

 

In a thick history book- 

'Hi. Listen, it's been weeks of hanging out in this library-'

In a copy of the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland- 

'Hi. Listen, it's been weeks of hanging out in this library-'

In a textbook about Korea's Joseon Dynasty in the 14th and 15th century, in a tired version of Hamlet, in a dog-eared Fahrenheit 451- 'Hi. Listen, it's been weeks of hanging out in this library-'

And finally, in a huge book detailing the events of the Greek and Roman wars, exactly half-way through the novel, a note was slotted snug between the pages. 

'My fingers are dying and my hand will forever be reduced to a claw. Go on a date with me? Mingyu Kim'

Wonwoo stood in the middle of the ancient history section, clutching a bunch of small white notes.

A bubbly feeling grew in his chest and soon enough, he couldn't hold back. Wonwoo started laughing, a bright, happy sound that echoed off the walls and filled the air. He held the notes carefully as he tried (unsuccessfully) to quell the peals of laughter. 

Before Mr. Lee could come and find him and no doubt scold him for being loud, Wonwoo gathered himself and quickly went back to his desk. 

Looking around, he found exactly what he needed and set to work, a stack of blank paper and a pen at his side. 

 

… 

 

When Wonwoo went to the library on the next Monday's afternoon, he found a smiling Mingyu Kim waiting for him outside the doors. 

In his hands were a stack of books. 

A Beginner's Guide to Arithmetics  
20 Modern Fairytales  
How to Raise a Bonsai  
18th Century Innovations  
The Wonders of the Beluga Whale  
Romeo and Juliet 

More books were in the stack; A dull dystopian-romance novel, a book on the human brain, and one infuriatingly confusing textbook on chemical engineering. 

Wonwoo smiled at the familiar titles. So Mingyu had figured out Wonwoo's reply. 

Placing all the books down, Mingyu brandished a bunch of small notes pinched between his thumb and forefinger. 

Wonwoo recognized his own handwriting immediately. 

'Hi. 

I'd thought you'd never ask. Mingyu Kim, yes, I will go out with you. 

P.S. This is Wonwoo'

"Hey," Mingyu said, with the excitement of a puppy. 

Wonwoo breathed out shakily but returned the smile, taking Mingyu's free hand. 

"Hi," 

 

... 

 

END

**Author's Note:**

> ▼・ᴥ・▼ ʷᴏᵒᶠlᵉs


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